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Defence in the World

It is easy to criticise our European partners in this matter, but we should remember that the authors of this strategy were the British Government. When the right hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (John Reid) was Defence Secretary, he thought it appropriate to deploy NATO in this fashion—as it is deployed in Afghanistan—and he drove that policy very hard. I do not think that our European powers were wildly enthusiastic about it, which has now partly been reflected in the quality of their contribution. We did not get the strategy sorted out at the beginning, so the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) is effectively reflecting on one of the consequences of that failure.